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If we haven't made it clear yet: the law matters to all email marketers, regardless of whether they are based in Canada. CASL's provisions apply to any marketer who sends a message that could have reasonably been expected to be opened by someone in Canada. CASL, which could lead to severe financial penalties for violations, makes exceptions for email contacts who might be passing through the country, but generally, it's a good idea to assume you have Canadian contacts on your list.

CASL represents some significant changes to the requirements placed on marketers. But for most email marketers using a reputable ESP, many of CASL's requirements are already taken care of. Others can be handled in an automated way, using some relatively simple email marketing software features.

We've got some pratical tips to help you make sure your marketing is CASL-compliant.

Quick disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and you should not treat this article as legal advice.

Treat your opt-in source as sacred

One of the biggest differences between the American CAN-SPAM law and CASL is how marketers should treat the burden of recording and tracking the opt-in. CASL places the burden on marketers to be able to prove that a message was sent with the proper consent. With Contactology, opt-in sources and dates are automatically tracked and recorded if contacts subcribe to a list from a form or through an API.

The major change for marketers: pay close attention to opt-in source when manually importing contacts to your account. Be descriptive and accurate about how this set of contacts found his or her way onto your email list. "Import" isn't going to be good enough for CASL. Learn how to manage opt-in source.

Be careful with "toggle" buttons

CASL specifically prohibits pre-checking opt-ins or "toggles" on subscription forms. When it comes to marketers and deliverability experts, talking about pre-checking signup forms is a little bit like religion or politics — everybody gets along as long as we don't talk about it.

Marketers tend to insist that pre-checking is harmless and a good way to win email contacts on e-commerce check-out pages and similar forms. Deliverability people tend to say it's not a true opt-in. CASL explicitly says that a pre-checked box is not consent. So now you know.

Understand Implied Consent, and Automate It

CASL establishes two types of consent: Express Consent and Implied Consent. Express Consent is relatively easy to understand and deal with — a contact has subscribed to your content. Implied Consent allows businesses and organizations to send commercial messages to contacts who have an existing relationship or have made a purchase or inquiry. Learn more about consent under CASL.

The very important point about Implied Consent is that it expires after two years. This provision that could lead to some avoidable CASL violations. But managing Implied Consent doesn't have to be a manual, time-consuming process. Using Saved Searches, or dynamic segmenation tools, it's relatively easy to manage Implied Consent and ensure you don't run afoul of CASL.